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| China reshuffles top military ranks ahead of leadership change Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 07:43 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China reshuffled its top military ranks on Tuesday, weeks before a once-in-a-decade generational leadership change which sources said would see the outgoing air force commander promoted to vice-chairman of the military's top decision-making body. General Ma Xiaotian, 63, was named air force commander, replacing General Xu Qiliang, 62, state broadcaster CCTV said. Ma has been one of the secretive military's most visible faces, speaking at forums overseas and leading talks with U.S. defence officials aimed at building trust between the world's two largest economies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Powerful quake strikes Costa Rica, no initial reports of damage Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 07:14 PM PDT SAN JOSE (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake struck western Costa Rica on Tuesday, shaking buildings in the capital and sending residents running onto the streets, but there were no initial reports of damage or injuries. Inhabitants of San Jose ran out of buildings after the 6.6 magnitude quake hit, following another big quake last month. Many went back indoors soon afterward, a Reuters witness said. The quake was centered about 38 miles south of Liberia, in Guanacaste province, at a depth of 24.5 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack: emails Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 06:07 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for the attack, official emails show. The emails, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks. The brief emails also show how U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Explosions, fire at arms factory in Sudan's capital Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 04:58 PM PDT  KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A huge fire broke out after a loud explosion on Tuesday night at an arms factory in Sudan's capital Khartoum, a Reuters witness said. Soldiers blocked roads to the factory where more explosions took place as firefighters tried to contain the blaze, a Reuters reporter at the scene in southern Khartoum said. The state-linked Sudanese Media Centre said the fire and explosions had occurred at the Yarmouk ammunition factory. The army spokesman was not immediately available for comment. There were no immediate reports of casualties. ... Full Story | Top |
| Army pushes into Bani Walid as Libya marks anniversary Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 04:52 PM PDT  TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - The Libyan army and allied militias have seized control of strategic buildings in the former Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid, a military spokesman said on Tuesday, as Libya marked the first anniversary of its "liberation" from Muammar Gaddafi. Thousands have fled the violence in the isolated hilltop town, which was one of the last to surrender to rebels last year, and has been at the center of a bloody standoff this month between rival militias whose ferocity has underscored the extent of instability in the North African country. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel kills three Hamas militants after Qatari emir leaves Gaza Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 04:27 PM PDT  GAZA (Reuters) - Israel killed three Hamas gunmen in Gaza Strip air strikes on Tuesday which the military said targeted squads preparing to launch rockets into the Jewish state. The air force operations followed other Palestinian attacks, including a bomb blast that wounded an Israeli army officer patrolling the Gaza border, on a day that saw the isolated, Hamas-governed enclave receive its first foreign head of state, the emir of Qatar. ... Full Story | Top |
| Makoto Taki appointed Japan's new justice minister: Nikkei Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 02:12 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Japan Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has decided to appoint lower house lawmaker Makoto Taki as justice minister following the resignation of Keishu Tanaka on Tuesday, the Nikkei reported. Taki served as justice minister until the cabinet reshuffle of October 1, the paper said. Tanaka resigned within a few weeks of taking office because of ill health, after calls for his resignation over past ties to an organized crime syndicate. Noda brought back Taki to minimize the impact of the second resignation by a minister since he took office in September 2011, the business daily said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian activist said was forced to confess: rights workers Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 02:04 PM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian activist was forced to confess to plotting unrest against the rule of President Vladimir Putin under threats made to his life, rights workers said on Tuesday after visiting the man in a prison once run by the feared Soviet-era KGB. Russian investigators said Leonid Razvozzhayev had been charged with preparing mass disorder, a day after they said he had voluntarily signed a confession offering details of how he and other protest leaders planned to carry out the unrest. ... Full Story | Top |
| Slovenia adopts reform laws but referendums possible Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 01:31 PM PDT LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - The Slovenian parliament on Tuesday passed reform laws on banking and management of state firms that the government says are crucial to ensuring financial stability in the country which is struggling to avoid a bailout. But Slovenia's powerful trade unions are threatening to force a referendum on both laws, saying they could lead to a sell-off of state assets. The first law would enable the establishment of a state company to take over bad debts of state-owned banks in exchange for state-guaranteed bonds, as a means of easing the credit crunch. ... Full Story | Top |
| Al Qaeda goes underground in Yemen against U.S.-driven crackdown Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 12:56 PM PDT  ADEN (Reuters) - A U.S.-backed military onslaught may have driven Islamist militants from towns in Yemen they seized last year, but many have regrouped into "sleeper cells" threatening anew the areas they vacated, security officials and analysts say. The resilience of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), despite increased U.S. drone strikes to eliminate militants, is worrying for top oil exporter Saudi Arabia next door and the security of major shipping lanes in the seas off Yemen. ... Full Story | Top |
| Second Darfur rebel group joins peace talks with Sudan Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 12:23 PM PDT DOHA (Reuters) - A second Sudanese rebel group in the western region of Darfur has agreed to start Qatar-sponsored peace talks with the government in Khartoum, officials said on Tuesday, in the first attempt by mediators to revive a stalled peace process. The move is unlikely to end a recent upsurge in violence in the region where mainly non-Arab tribes have been fighting the government for nearly a decade in a conflict the United Nations estimates has killed around 300,000 people. But diplomats hope it will inject new life into Western and Arab efforts to mediate a peace settlement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Executions increasingly viewed as torture: U.N. investigator Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 12:20 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Countries around the world are increasingly viewing capital punishment as a form of torture because it inflicts severe mental and physical pain on those sentenced to death, a U.N. torture investigator said on Tuesday. Traditionally, countries have considered the legality of capital punishment with respect to the right to life guaranteed under international law, U.N. special rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez told the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkmenistan promises new gas-fuelled era of prosperity Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 11:56 AM PDT TURKMENBASHI, Turkmenistan (Reuters) - The president of gas-rich Turkmenistan on Tuesday promised to raise salaries and pensions and to transform the former Soviet republic from an agrarian nation into an industrial one, heralding what he called "The Happiness and Might Epoch". President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov also said he planned to extend the time that pupils spent at secondary school from ten years to 12 years, promising he would use the Central Asian country's gas wealth to push up living standards. ... Full Story | Top |
| Jordan monarch urges Islamists to end poll boycott Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 11:33 AM PDT  AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan's King Abdullah on Tuesday called on the country's Islamist opposition to end a boycott of forthcoming parliamentary elections he said would usher in a new era of political reforms. In an address to a large gathering of opposition and tribal figures at the royal palace, the monarch said the opposition could achieve a wider say in the running of the country by participating in parliamentary elections due on January 23. ... Full Story | Top |
| UAE rights group calls to speed up Islamist trials Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 11:31 AM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - A local human rights group on Tuesday called on the United Arab Emirates authorities to speed up trials of Islamists detained over alleged threats to state security but dismissed concerns of possible torture and abuse raised by some families and activists The UAE, a major oil exporter and regional business hub, has arrested some 60 local Islamists, accusing them of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in the country, and conspiring to overthrow the government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Islamist groups in Yemen Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 11:26 AM PDT (Reuters) - Here is a look at al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Ansar al-Sharia militants in Yemen: * When Islamists seized control of towns in the southern province of Abyan in May 2011, they identified themselves as Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law). Sheikh Abu Zubayr Adil bin Abdullah al-Abab, AQAP's chief religious figure, had in the previous month announced that "the name Ansar al-Sharia is what we use to introduce ourselves in areas where we work to tell people about our work and goals". ... Full Story | Top |
| Europe must help Mali against Islamist rebels: Germany Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 11:11 AM PDT BERLIN (Reuters) - Europe must help restore security in Mali, hit by an Islamist insurgency in its north, and could lend support through military training to an African-led mission, Germany's Foreign Minister said on Tuesday. Guido Westerwelle said after talks in Berlin with the U.N.'s envoy to the Sahel, Romano Prodi, he was extremely worried about the situation. "From the north of Mali you need to cross only one international border and you are at the Mediterranean. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bosnian leader compares Serbian president to Karadzic Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 10:58 AM PDT SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnian leader Bakir Izetbegovic hit out at Serbia's nationalist president on Tuesday, comparing him to genocide suspect Radovan Karadzic after he told a television interviewer that Bosnia was "disappearing before our eyes." Izetbegovic, the Muslim chairman of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, said he would pull out of a planned first meeting next month with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and warned of "irreparable damage" to regional relations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Opposition turns up heat at Hungary '56 rallies Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 10:40 AM PDT  BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's deep political divisions came to the fore on Tuesday at rallies marking its failed 1956 revolution against Soviet rule as the prime minister derided EU policies and a leading opponent announced he would run to unseat him. Right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, speaking to a crowd outside parliament estimated by state news agency MTI at 150,000, rallied support for his maverick economic strategy that has frequently put him at loggerheads with the European Union. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House says no bilateral talks scheduled for Iran Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 10:33 AM PDT ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is open to having bilateral talks with Iran about its nuclear program, but the United States has not scheduled any negotiations, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said on Tuesday. "We have been open to considering negotiations that are bilateral, but we have none scheduled and we have no agreements with the Iranians to do that," Carney told reporters. "There is nothing scheduled. There is no agreement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Racist attacks in Greece hit "alarming" levels: UNHCR Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 10:29 AM PDT ATHENS (Reuters) - Racially motivated attacks have risen to alarming levels in Greece and authorities are doing little to tackle the problem, the U.N. refugee agency said in a report on Tuesday. Greece is a major gateway for mostly Asian and African migrants trying to enter the European Union and immigrants face growing hostility as the debt-laden country goes through its worst economic downturn in six decades. The agency said 87 racist attacks were recorded by rights and migrant groups between January and September this year, calling the results "exceptionally alarming". ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. expects to feed 1.5 million Syrians monthly till mid-2013 Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 10:18 AM PDT GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday it plans to continue providing food for 1.5 million people in Syria until at least June next year, a sign it expects hunger to persist in a protracted civil war. The United Nations agency set the target of 1.5 million months ago and finally reached it in September, after managing to deliver food supplies to just 850,000 people in August. "It is a record amount," Daly Belgasmi, WFP regional director for the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, told Reuters in Geneva. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt ruling allows time for constitution Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 09:19 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - A legal case against the assembly writing Egypt's new constitution was referred to the country's top court on Tuesday, a move likely to give the Islamist-dominated body enough time to complete its work before the judges can rule. The step appeared to remove legal doubts overshadowing a process that will shape the post-Hosni Mubarak era. But the assembly still faces a struggle to build consensus around a text that is exposing fault lines in Egypt's new political landscape. "The case is finished. The challenge will now be a political one, not a legal one. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Village cafe shootout spells trouble for Assad Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 09:10 AM PDT  AMMAN (Reuters) - A warm autumn day in the Syrian village of Qardaha and a man walks in to a cafe where two customers are arguing. He pulls a gun; shots are fired. The newcomer is wounded and one of the other men killed. But this is no obscure local feud; it reveals frictions among President Bashar al-Assad's core supporters. For Qardaha is the ancestral home of the ruling dynasty. And the man who strode in with a pistol was the beleaguered president's cousin. Accounts vary of what happened next. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey seizes five tons of marijuana near Iran border Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 08:56 AM PDT ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police seized five tons of marijuana with a street value of at least $2 million near the border with Iran on Tuesday and officials said they were investigating the involvement of Kurdish militants. Turkish security sources say drug trafficking is a major source of income for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which took up arms 28 years ago with the aim of carving out a Kurdish state in the southeastern border region with Iran and Iraq. ... Full Story | Top |
| Major powers examine long-shot options in Iran talks Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 08:48 AM PDT  BRUSSELS/VIENNA (Reuters) - Big powers may ask Iran for stricter limits on its nuclear work if it wants an easing of harsh sanctions - a long-shot approach aimed at yielding a negotiated solution that has eluded them for more than a decade. A solution to the standoff is increasingly urgent. The longer the impasse goes on, the closer Iran could get to the technological threshold of a capability to build an atom bomb, raising the odds of Israeli strikes against its installations. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK bomb suspects played currency market to raise funds: court Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 08:47 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Three Islamist militants accused of plotting attacks in Britain tried to raise funds for their bombing campaign by trading stolen charity money on the foreign exchange market, a court heard on Tuesday. The three men from Birmingham in central England were arrested with several others on terrorism charges in September last year as part of a wider crackdown following the 2005 bomb attacks in London that killed 52 people. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia's parliament votes to expand definition of high treason Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 08:44 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's parliament on Tuesday voted to expand the country's definition of high treason in a move that critics said meant any Russian citizen who had contacts with a foreigner could be accused of trying to undermine the state. ... Full Story | Top |
| Army say gunmen agree to truce in Lebanon's Tripoli Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 08:40 AM PDT  TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - The Lebanese army said it had arranged a ceasefire on Tuesday in the northern city of Tripoli after two nights of fighting between Sunni and Alawite gunmen loyal to different sides in the war in neighboring Syria, a military source said on Tuesday. At least 10 people have been killed and 65 wounded in clashes in Tripoli despite a heavy deployment of troops backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran says may stop oil sales if sanctions tighten Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 08:26 AM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it would stop oil exports if pressure from Western sanctions got any tighter and that it had a "Plan B" contingency strategy to survive without oil revenues. Western nations led by the United States have imposed tough sanctions on the Islamic Republic this year in an attempt to curb its nuclear program that they say is designed to produce atomic weapons. Tehran says its nuclear plans are peaceful. "If sanctions intensify we will stop exporting oil," Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi told reporters in Dubai. ... Full Story | Top |
| Car bombs, mortars kill nine in Baghdad Shi'ite districts Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 08:01 AM PDT  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Bomb blasts and mortars killed at least nine people and wounded 28 more in Shi'ite districts in Baghdad on Tuesday, just days before Iraqis started celebrating the Islamic Eid al-Adha religious festival. Car bombs exploded and mortars landed around the Shi'ite neighborhood of Shula, northwestern Baghdad, killing 8 people and wounded 28, and another person was killed by a mortar round in Kadhimiya area, police and hospital sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama on attack in foreign policy debate, but Romney steady Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 07:25 AM PDT  BOCA RATON, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama scolded challenger Mitt Romney for being "all over the map" on foreign policy in their final presidential debate on Monday, but the Republican appeared to have passed the "commander-in-chief" test of looking authoritative on national security issues. With two weeks left until Election Day, the high-stakes debate strayed frequently into domestic policy, with Romney seeking to bolster his argument that Obama had bungled the U.S. economic recovery. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria arrests 15 Russian sailors carrying arms Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 07:16 AM PDT LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities seized a ship and arrested its 15 Russian crew members on suspicion of arms smuggling, after they found several guns and about 8,500 rounds of ammunition on the boat, the Navy said on Tuesday. The vessel was intercepted over the weekend in Lagos, one of Africa's busiest ports, Navy spokesman Commodore Aliyu Kabiru said by telephone. It belonged to the Moran Security Group, based in Moscow, and was flying a Dutch flag, he added. There was no immediate comment from Moran. "The vessel was carrying 8,598 ammunitions and different rifles. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rebels battle Assad's forces for gateway to north Syria Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 07:10 AM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels are battling to seize an army base close to the main north-south highway and say its capture would be a big step towards creating a "safe zone" allowing them to focus on Bashar al-Assad's southern strongholds. For two weeks they have surrounded and attacked Wadi al-Deif, east of the town of Maarat al-Numan. They say the ferocity of counter-attacks by government forces shows how important holding the base is to the president's military strategy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian Salafi leader says Islamic-led government is a U.S. puppet Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 06:58 AM PDT  Tunis (Reuters) - The leader of radical Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia on Tuesday accused the country's government of being a puppet of the United States and un-Islamic, urging it to release Salafists jailed after an attack on the U.S. embassy last month. The criticism from Saif-Allah Benahssine, who is also known as Abu Iyadh, came as Tunisia's moderate Islamist-led government celebrated its first anniversary following the ousting of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali last year. Benahssine is wanted by the police for allegedly inciting the attack on the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt denies asking Algeria for $2 billion aid Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 06:52 AM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's prime minister denied a report that he asked Algeria's government for $2 billion to shore up a struggling economy during an official visit to the country this week, Egypt's state news agency reported. Egypt is seeking assistance from foreign donors and the International Monetary Fund to curb its budget deficit and avert a balance of payments crisis. Cairo is trying to revive an economy hit by political turmoil sparked by last year's Arab Spring uprising. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela opposition seeks to brake Chavez in new elections Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 06:42 AM PDT  CARACAS (Reuters) - Demoralized by their failure to unseat President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's opposition hopes to bounce back in December state elections that provide a chance to curb the socialist president's power. The opposition holds seven of Venezuela's 23 states and is fighting to at least keep those by appealing to voters' worries over uncontrolled crime, cronyism and sputtering services. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Turkish gold trade booms to Iran, via Dubai Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 06:37 AM PDT  DUBAI/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - To see one of Iran's financial lifelines at work, pay a visit to Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport and find a gate for a flight to Dubai. Couriers carrying millions of dollars worth of gold bullion in their luggage have been flying from Istanbul to Dubai, where the gold is shipped on to Iran, according to industry sources with knowledge of the business. The sums involved are enormous. Official Turkish trade data suggests nearly $2 billion worth of gold was sent to Dubai on behalf of Iranian buyers in August. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian army shelling kills 20 at Aleppo bakery: activists Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 06:25 AM PDT AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian government forces killed at least 20 people on Tuesday when they shelled a bakery in a neighborhood under rebel control in the contested northern city of Aleppo, opposition activists said. The dead included women and children, they said. Video footage, which could not be immediately verified, showed decapitated bodies amid scattered bread loaves. Majd Nour, an opposition campaigner in Aleppo, said two shells hit the bakery, located in the eastern Hananu neighborhood, in the early afternoon. Free Syrian Army fighters were guarding it at the time, he said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Latvia sees good and bad as Russian money haven Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 06:23 AM PDT  RIGA (Reuters) - Offshore funds flowing from crisis-hit Cyprus have helped boost bank deposits in Latvia, strengthening the small Baltic state's position as an offshore banking centre for neighboring Russia and other ex-Soviet states. Non-resident deposits are near 50 percent of total bank deposits, a record high, with Latvia's location next to Russia its key advantage. It has drawn funds from both businesses and rich individuals, who see it is as a stable proxy for Western banks, with the added attraction that Russian is widely spoken. ... Full Story | Top |
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